


bittersweet

by quagswag



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Akashi Can't Bake, Angst, Angst and Humor, Baking, Cooking, Fluff, Kuroko and Akashi Baking and Decorating Cookies, M/M, Teiko arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 06:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10156316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quagswag/pseuds/quagswag
Summary: Akashi Seijuro is assigned one task: bake cookies for the entire Teiko basketball team for their end of the year party.Akashi Seijuro has one problem: How do you bake?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello returning readers, and welcome new! I'm glad to see you and hope you've had a fine day.
> 
> I think I exaggerated Akashi's inability to bake a little too much. ツ

Why are cookies so hard to make?

Akashi pulls a tray of deformed dough pieces out of the oven. Another failure, he sighs. He scrapes them into the garbage; the last thing he wants is for someone to notice his inability to create delicious baked goods. People consider this common, easy, and straightforward, but for Akashi, he did not understand the simplicity of baking.

The smell of burnt dough and the foul mix of ingredients had now spread around the house, and Akashi knows that eventually someone will trace it back to the small kitchen he’s working in and expose him. He drowns all the cookware in soap and water while briskly moping the counters. He finds one of his cookies on the stove and shoves it into his pocket to throw out later. He stumbles as he carries the hoard of recipes and cookbooks that he’d picked out from the family library, and slowly, he leaves the room the same way he found it: spotless.

He throws the books, then himself onto the bed. Akashi Seijuro, the absolute, ever victorious captain of the Teiko basketball team, could not make even one decent cookie for his team’s end-of-the-year party and he wants to hang himself. Though he was inexperienced in the area of defeat, if this is what the peak of it felt like, he surely did not want to admit it completely, ever.

Akashi picks up one of the books and holds it above his head: it’s called _The Kitchen_ , and inside is many pages of recipes and instructions that he thought even Aomine could follow. It isn’t like he didn’t know how to make anything at all, he could cook well. It was just, that somehow, cooking and baking were not the same. He runs his finger down the spine of the book, admiring the quality. He bends over, reaching for his phone sitting soundly on top of his dresser and rings up the first person that comes to his mind. _The Kitchen_ , and inside is many pages of recipes and instructions that he thought even Aomine could follow. It isn’t like he didn’t know how to make anything at all, he could cook well. It was just, that somehow, cooking and baking were not the same. He runs his finger down the spine of the book, admiring the quality. He bends over, reaching for his phone sitting soundly on top of his dresser and rings up the first person that comes to his mind.

“Hello?” the voice on the other side of the line inquires, and Akashi feels a little relief that he’s able to get through to the person he wants to talk to most.

“Tetsuya,” Akashi says; it feels good on his tongue and lips. “How was your day?”

“I spent most of today playing basketball,” Kuroko responds with muffles in the background, “but it was good.”

Akashi isn’t surprised, buts let out a small chuckle anyway. “I’m glad to have such a passionate member as you on the team.”

“I’m only trying to improve. Anyway, did you need something from me?”

“Ah,” the redhead huffs as he retraces his thoughts. “I was being speculative, but have you learned how to bake?”

“Bake?” The phantom man repeats. “Yes, I know a little about it. Why do you ask?”

“No reason in particular,” Akashi says quickly, “but you may know that I am making cookies for the team party.”

“Do you require assistance?” Kuroko asks.

“I would appreciate another pair of hands- not that I want to trouble you.”

“I don’t mind,” the other says, “I can help anytime.”

Akashi feels a shiver go down his spine, and suddenly there’s that ticklish heat in his body. “I offer my gratitude.”

Subsequently deciding that the Sunday afternoon tomorrow would work for them both, they end their conversation and the emperor sinks into his bed again. Finally, he might be able to bake something that isn’t scum, he thinks. He rolls onto his stomach and hears a light crunch in his pocket. It makes him sit up, realizing that the cookie he intended to throw away earlier was had dribbled onto his sheets in the form of minuscule crumbs.

He slides off the bed and curses himself. It’s almost unseeable; the crumbs blend well with the dark bedding. There’s a huge chunk on the bed that Akashi draws his attention to, and grasps it with two fingers. Its appearance differs from the cookies he made in the kitchen, so he pops it into his mouth.

It tastes bitter.

*

Kuroko arrives at his doorstep five minutes early. Not that he was counting, or anything.

The first thing he notices: he looks good. He makes a white t-shirt and plaid shorts look exceptional to Akashi’s lavish clothing. His hair sticks up in places, and it shows off his small, round eyes. In other words, cute.

Akashi realizes how much attention he’s paying to the smaller boy’s appearance and gives his head a knock. Had he always observed Kuroko this way? The blue boy was still standing in the doorway, a basketball in hand, his mouth moving but Akashi doesn’t hear anything coming out of it.

“Akashi-kun. Akashi-kun,” Kuroko repeats, and the captain finally snaps out of it. “You seem to be lost in deep thought.”

“Forgive me,” Akashi pleads, “I was just thinking over something...nevermind. Come in, Tetsuya.”

They make their way to one of the kitchens, and Akashi establishes that his head would not have any room for outrageous thoughts today; his mind was an animal of its own and only the last man on the earth would know what he could end up spitting out.

Akashi already has the correct ingredients set out, at least he think they’re right; now he only has to try not to make a fool of himself in front of Kuroko. Kuroko didn’t seem like someone who would spread rumours, but he had to make sure that no one knows that Akashi Seijuro can’t bake.

“Why is there a can of tuna on the counter,” is the first thing Kuroko says, as he holds up a tin of only the freshest most high-quality tuna.

“Perhaps that was mistakenly left out,” Akashi gulps, grabbing the tuna from Kuroko and throwing it in the cupboard. Well, he’s not even one minute into the baking process and he’s already fucked up.

“...if you say so,” Kuroko replies and worriedly gazes at all the other ingredients on the counter. There’s flour, water, and baking powder, but there’s also tomato sauce, blue cheese and steak.

Akashi notices Kuroko’s disappointing look. “I don’t think this set-up is right,” the redhead butts in quickly, “so why don’t we spend the next few minutes sorting out what we need?”

After the correct ingredients are chosen and their aprons were on, Kuroko takes the lead by grabbing a bowl and dumping the main ingredients in it. He slides it over to Akashi, requesting, “Could you mix this for me?”

The redhead stirs the ingredients and watches in amazement how everything combines into a soft, chewy dough; something he was unable to achieve yesterday. He looks over to Kuroko, who is furiously throwing things into the bowl, yet is producing the most ordinary dough, which amazes Akashi.

“There’s over 50 people on the team…” Kuroko mumbles, “...so-”

“How,” Akashi blurts.

Kuroko loses his thoughts at the sounds of Akashi. “Sorry?”

“How do you,” he says, pointing to the dough in Kuroko’s hands.

Kuroko gaze follows Akashi’s finger and laughs. “Oh,” he realizes, “when I was little, my parents had a lot of parties and they always needed to make things fast, so I had to learn how to do this quickly.”

Akashi thinks for a moment about how great it would be if he found a spouse that could make cookies like Kuroko did. He realizes and jumps back a little.  
“I’ll even teach you,” Kuroko says, grabbing Akashi’s hand and pulling him towards him. Akashi looks down where Kuroko’s grasp is tight and feels his cheeks turn into the same shade as his hair.

He’s having a good time.

*

It’s a miracle, but Akashi can finally bake.

The new graduate slides the tray out of the oven and is overcome by the strong aroma of the well-made cookies, for a change. He places them on the table, where they would cool the quickest. Kuroko comes back from what he said was a washroom break but carries plenty of plastic tubes in his hands.

“We’re decorating them?” Akashi asks, staring at the icing filled bags.

“I thought it would be nice,” Kuroko answers, “unless you don’t want to-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” interrupts Akashi, “a bit shocked, that’s all.”

The cookies were now cool, and they both agree to decorate the circular cookies as basketballs. Akashi is precise with his coating, and after one cookie, he looks over to Kuroko, who has his tongue out and all his concentration on icing the cookie. He lets himself admit that he looks adorable, and not anything more as he returns to his own work.

The two personalize some cookies; Kuroko adds a pair of glasses on one cookie and writes nanodayo on the bottom of it, which brings a chuckle from Akashi. They finish quickly, but it’s hours into the afternoon and Kuroko has to leave.

“Thank you for your help,” Akashi says, arms behind his back as he accompanies Kuroko to the doorway.

“Thank you. I had fun today,” Kuroko says with the small smile of his, and Akashi feels slightly good.

“So,” Akashi tries his best not to stammer, “please take this as a token of gratitude.” He hands Kuroko one of the cookies that he’d decorated; it’s a smaller replica of the phantom man’s jersey with _Misdirection!_ written in fancy lettering.

“Thank you. I’ll treasure each bite,” Kuroko says with slightly rose dusted cheeks. He fidgets with his shoes and pulls a cookie from behind him as well. “I did one too.”

Akashi accepts it with two hands and a racing heart. It’s an image of him watching the stars, and it’s carefully decorated in comparison to the other ones, he notices. He’s about to thank Kuroko for it when he notices the boy is gone and the door is wide open.  
Did he leave?

Akashi closes the door and leans against it. He inspects the cookie; it's perfect edges, colour, icing, and tears a small piece off it. It goes straight into his mouth.

This time, it melts in his mouth. It tastes sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:
> 
> Kuroko bounces his basketball and takes a gentle bite into Akashi’s cookie. He could feel the welled up emotions he’s been carrying all day finally release to the sensation.
> 
> “Thank you, Akashi-kun.” He says to the afternoon sun. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos really keep me motivated, so I hope you have a bit of time to spare if you like my work ☆☆☆
> 
> I try and post every week, so I hope to see you next week as well, I'd love for you to be here!


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